Lou Coggia: Trump not ‘charismatic’

With regard to Jennifer Schubert-Akin's column "Trump Should Copy Bush's Art of Leadership," published July 19, Ms. Akin states: "To be a successful president on the international stage, President Trump will likely have to rely on his personality over politics" and goes on to define his personality as "charismatic."

Let’s see. He depends on his charismatic personality to deal with international issues. Ms. Akin, are you referring to his encouragement of the rift between Qater and the Sunni Arab nations that his secretary of state has been trying to rectify ever since? Or maybe your referring to his bullying/pushing of the prime minister of Montenegro so he could get to the front of the line. Or how about his embracing of the Polish president who his pursuing anti democratic sanctions on the press and antidemocratic changes to how judges are selected. Perhaps you mean his utterance to the NATO members that he would not necessarily come to the defense of Baltic members if they were attacked by Russia. Maybe you're referring to his unilateral withdrawal from the Paris Climate accord, which every other developed nation is committed to, even China. Oh, I know, it’s his boast that he will build a border wall that Mexico is going to pay for — NOT.

And there are plenty of examples in the domestic arena, most notably his criticism of judges and his demonizing of the press as an "enemy of the people." These are not qualities of a charismatic personality.

Yes, there are a lot of descriptors of Trump's personality, but charismatic is not one of them.